Gaea is the Earth goddess. She mated with her son Uranus to produce the remaining Titans. Gaea seems to have started as a neolithic earth-mother worshipped before the Indo-European invasion that eventually lead to the Hellinistic civilization.

Although certain scholars have seen in Athena a personification of moisture, analogous to the Hindu Sarasvati, it seems more probable that she was in origin a storm and lightning-Goddess. Hence her normal attribute, the aegis – which in primitive times signified the stormy night – and her epithet as a Goddess ‘of the brilliant eyes’. She would thus be analogous to the Vedic Goddess Vach. But Athena very quickly lost this meteorological character.
Her functions are many: she is venerated among the great divinities in her quality of warrior-Goddess, as Goddess of the arts of peace and as Goddess of prudent intelligence.
To Athena the warrior – her oldest manifestation – belong the epithets Promachos (‘who fights in the foremost ranks’) and Alalcomeneis (‘who repulses the enemy’). She is the protectress of towns and the guardian of acropolises.
The pacific Athena protects various industries. She is preeminently the Ergane, or working woman, and is the patron of architects and sculptors, as well as of spinners and weavers. She also protects horses (Hippia) and oxen (Boarmia). The olive tree owed to her its fruit. Her wisdom, which earned her the epithet Pronoia (the Foreseeing), made her the counselor-Goddess (Boulaia) and the Goddess of the Assembly (Agoraia). Athena’s emblem is the owl.

Like all our other great deities, Athena had numerous surnames, some of which expressed particular qualities of the Goddess whilst others summarized whole stories concerning her.

People even began to call her “Pronoia”, “Providence”: but this must have happened later than the time at which the surnames I shall now list were commonly accepted.

Athena’s name of Aglaurus indicated a darker, tragic, Persephone-like aspect of the Goddess. When called Pandrosus, like that other daughter of Cecrops, she displayed herself under another, bright aspect, which was associated with the olive. A sacred olive grew on the Acropolis, in the Temple of Pandrosus.

Selene, the name of the moon-Goddess, was never one of Athena’s surnames, any more than Metis was. But students of our ancient times – including, it is said, Aristotle himself – have stated that disguised beneath the name of Athena was, in fact, the moon. The Goddess Selene also had a father named Pallas – according, at least, to one account, which deviates from that given by Hesiod; but Athena differs from the bright Selene in having various aspects, as sharply contrasted as full moon and darkness.

She was also Gorgopis, “the Gorgon-faced”, and bore the Gorgon’s countenance upon her breast. But she was further called Hellotis, like Europa, “the broad-faced” – an expression that is associated with the name Selene.

The poetical epithet for Athena, glaukopis, was more of a play upon words: it can be translated as “owl-eyed”, but it can also refer to the sea-green or olive-green color of the Goddess’s eyes.

The surname Tritogeneia did not originally mean that she came into the world on the banks of any particular river or lake, but that she was born of the water itself; for the name Triton seems to be associated with water generally.

Under the surname Aithyia she was a sea-bird: the grey puffin or shearwater, also known as the sea-crow. It was told that in this form she took under her wings the serpent-shaped primordial man Cecrops and carried him from Athens to Megara.

As Hephaestia she was associated with Hephaestus, and as Areia with the war-God Ares. As Ergane, Goddess of handicrafts, she came close to the former of these Gods, and as Alalcomene, “the Parrier”, she came close to the latter. Of all the handicrafts she most loved and protected the art of smiths and metal-founders, likewise the women’s crafts-spinning and weaving and woolwork.

She was also surnamed Hygieia and, in this quality, accompanied by a son of Apollo, Asclepius.

Of all our Goddesses Athena was eminently the protecting Goddess of a city, with such surnames as Polias or Poliouchos, and the protectress of heroes – but not of all heroes: she had her own especial protégés, such as Perseus, slayer of the Gorgon, Diomedes and Tydeus, the wild son and still wilder father, and the wise Ulysses.

She also had priestesses bearing names that might have been used to describe herself: names such a Tritaia, a shorter form of Tritogeneia; Auge, “the lustrous”; or Aithra, “the bright”. These priestesses bore heroes: Tritaia bore Melanippos, “the black stallion”, to Ares; Auge bore Telephos, “the far-shining”, to Hercules; and Aithra bore Theseus to Poseidon.

All these stories lead over into heroic saga-like that oft-told story of Perseus, upon whose mother, Danae, Zeus notoriously descended in the form of a rain of gold. The inhabitants of the island of Rhodes told that something similar happened at the birth of Athena: when the Goddess sprang from her father’s head, he let fall a golden rain.

Except from The Gods of the Greeks
by C. Kerenyi

Surnames:

Agoraias

of the Market-place

On their market-place the Spartans had a sanctuary of Athena Agoraias (Athena of the Market-place).

Alea was a city of Arcadia, now belongs to Argolis, with a sanctuary of Athena Aleas (Athena of Alea). Aepytus Aleus built another sanctuary of Athena Aleas in Tegea, Arcadia. This sanctuary had been respected from early days by all the Peloponnesians, and afforded peculiar safety to its suppliants.

Aethra set up at an island near Corinth a temple of Athena Apatourias. She also established a custom for the Troezenian maidens of dedicating their girdles before wedlock to Athena Apatourias (Athena of the feast Apaturia).

At Athens there is the Hill of Ares, so named because Ares was the first to be tried here. Afterwards, Orestes was tried for killing his mother, and there was an altar to Athena Areias (Athena of Combat), which he dedicated on being acquitted. The Plataeans also had a sanctuary of Athena surnamed Areias; it was built from the spoils given them by the Athenians as their share from the battle of Marathon.

Among the ruins of Las in Laconia there was a temple of Athena named Asias, made by Polydeuces and Castor on their return home from Colchis; for the Colchians had a shrine of Athena Asias (Athena of Asia).

At Sparta there was a sanctuary of Athena called Axiopoinou (Athena of Just Requital). For when Hercules, in avenging himself on Hippocoon and his sons, had inflicted upon them a just requital for their treatment of his relative, he founded a sanctuary of Athena, and surnamed her Axiopoinou because the ancients used to call vengeance poinai.

In Corinth, near the theater, there was the temple of Athena Chalinitidos (Athena of Bridling). For Athena was the divinity who gave most help to Bellerophontes, and she delivered to him Pegasus, having herself broken in and bridled him.

On Sparta was built a sanctuary of Athena, who was called both Poliouchou (Athena of Protecting the City) and Chalkioikou (Athena of the Bronze House). The Lacedaemonians made of bronze both the temple and the image of Athena.

The Athenians were the first to surname Athena Erganes (Athena of Work). At Sparta there was a sanctuary of Athena; her surname was Erganes. At Olympia there was an altar to Athena of Work. At Megapolis there was an image of Athena Ergane (Athena the Worker).

The image of Athena present at Tegea was brought from the parish of Manthurenses, and among them it had the surname of Hippia (Horse Goddess). According to their account, when the battle of the gods and giants took place the goddess drove the chariot and horses against Enceladus.

In Athens there was a place called the Hill of Horses, the first point in Attica that Oedipus reached, and an altar to Poseidon Hippiou (Poseidon of Horses), and to Athena Hippias (Athena of Horses). At Altis there was also an altar to Athena Hippias.

At the very entrance to the Acropolis, in Athens, there was a figure of Athena, surnamed Hugeias (Athena of Health). Also, there was a parish in Attica called Acharnae where there was an altar of Athena Hugeias.

Iton was a town in the south of Phthiotis in Thessaly. Here the goddess had a celebrated sanctuary, and hence is called by the Roman poets incola Itoni. There was also a sanctuary of Athena Itonias (Athena of Iton) between Pherae and Larisa in Thessaly. There was also another sanctuary of Athena Itonias before reaching Coroneia from Alalcomenae in Boeotia. According to Pausanias it was named after Itoniou (Itonius) the son of Amphictyon. In this temple there was bronze images of Athena Itonias and Zeus; the artist was Agoracritus, pupil and loved one of Pheidias.

At Sparta there was a sanctuary of Athena. Ulysses is said to have set up the image and to have named it Keleutheias (Athena of Paths), when he had beaten the suitors of Penelope in the foot-race. Of Keleutheias he set up sanctuaries, three in number, at some distance from each other.

About twenty stades away from Elateia, the largest city in Phocis, was a sanctuary of Athena surnamed Kranaias (Athena of Cranaea). The road to it slopes upwards, but so gentle is the ascent that it causes no fatigue. At the end of the road is a hill which is neither very large nor very high. On this hill the sanctuary has been built, with porticoes and dwellings through them, where lived those whose duty it was to wait on the god, chief of whom was the priest.

There was a shrine of Apollo in Kuparissia (Cyparissia) (Starb. 8.4.2), Messenia, and of Athena with the title Kuparissias (Athena of Kuparissia). On the citadel of Asopus, in Laconia, was a sanctuary of Athena, surnamed Kuparissias.

On the Acropolis of Athens there was two offerings, a statue of Pericles, the son of Xanthippus, and the best worth seeing of the works of Pheidias, the statue of Athena called Lemnias (Athena of Lemnos) after those who dedicated it.

Passing through the gate at Megalopolis and proceeding by the side of the river Helisson towards Maenalus, there was a sanctuary of Athena surnamed Machanitidos (Athena of Contrive), because the goddess is the inventor of plans and devices of all sorts.

The women of Elis seeing that their land had been deprived of its vigorous manhood, prayed to Athena that they might conceive at their first union with their husbands. Their prayer was answered, and they set up a sanctuary of Athena surnamed Metros (Athena of Mothers).

Physcoa came from Elis in the Hollow and mated with Dionysus, and bore him a son called Narkaios (Narcaeus). When he grew up he made war against the neighboring folk, and rose to great power, setting up moreover a sanctuary of Athena surnamed Narkaias (Athena of Narkaios).

Athena was styled Nike as giving victory, and the Nike Apteros or Wingless Victory, to whom the famous temple at Athens was built, was Athena, she being thus distinguished from Nike proper, who was conventionally represented with wings. Also, the Megarians had a sanctuary of Athena Nikes (Athena of Victory).

At Thebes there was in the open an altar and an image of Athena, said to have been dedicated by Cadmus. Those who think that the Cadmus who came to the Theban land was an Egyptian, and not a Phoenician, have their opinion contradicted by the name of this Athena, because she is called by the Phoenician name of Onga (Athena Onga), and not by the Egyptian name of Sais (Athena Sais).

At Sparta, near the Alpium was a temple of Athena Ophthalmitidos (Ophthalmitis). They say that Lycurgus dedicated it when one of his eyes had been struck out by Alcander, because the laws he had made happened not to find favor with Alcander. Having fled to this place he was saved by the Lacedaemonians from losing his remaining eye, and so he made this temple of Athena Ophthalmitidos (Athena of Eyes, or maybe Athena of Eye Troubles).

The citadel of Larisa, at Argos, had the sanctuaries of Apollo Deiradiotes and Athena Oxuderkous (Athena of Sharp-sightedness), dedicated by Diomedes, because once when he was fighting at Troy the goddess removed the mist from his eyes.

Patrae was a town of Achaia, and one of the twelve Achaean cities. On the acropolis of Patrae was a sanctuary of Artemis Laphria. Within the precincts of Laphria was a temple of Athena surnamed Panachaidos (Athena of All Achaea). The image was of ivory and gold.

At Thebes there was a hill sacred to Apollo. First at the entrance was Athena and Hermes, stone figures and named Pronai (of the Fore-temple). The Hermes is said to have been made by Pheidias, the Athena by Scopas. The temple of Apollo was built behind.

When you enter Delphi you see the temple of Athena Pronoias (Athena of Forethought). Of its two images the one in the fore-temple was larger than the one inside the temple. This name of Athena, which is guaranteed by the context in D., Aristid., Jul., Macr. Il. cc., seems to have been a distortion of the name Pronaia.

Sais was a city on the Delta of the Nile in Egypt. The intercourse between Sais and Athens especially was promoted by their worshipping the same deity – Neith and Athena – and hence there sprung up the opinion that Cecrops the Saite led a colony to Athens. The Greeks identified Neith with Athena (Athena Sais), probably because of her warlike aspect.

Upon the top of the mountain Pontinus, near Lerna in Argolis, was a sanctuary of Athena Saitidos (Athena of Sais). The name was traced by the Greeks to the Egyptians, among whom Athena was said to have been called Sais.

At Argos, near the market-place, was a sanctuary of Athena Salpingos (Athena of the War-trumpet) founded by Hegeleos. This Hegeleos taught the Dorians how to play the instrument, and for this reason gave Athena the surname Salpingos.

Skiras was the old name of Salamis. The Athenians had a harbor at Munychia (Phalerum), with a temple of Athena Skirados (Athena of Skiras). Athena had the title of Skirados in Salamis (Hdt. 8.94), in Phalerum (Str. l.c., Paus. 1.1.4, Paus. 1.36.4) and at Skiron (Poll. 9.96).

Lycurgus talks about «Looking back at the Acropolis in Athens and the temple of Zeus Soteros (Zeus the Savior) and Athena Soteiras (Athena the Savior)». Also, from Asea in Arcadia is an ascent up Mount Boreius, and on the top of the mountain are traces of a sanctuary built in honor of Athena Soteirai (Athena the Savior) and Poseidon by Ulysses after his return from Troy.

On the Greek mainland facing the Cyclades Islands and the Aegean Sea the Sounion promontory stands out from the Attic land. After surrounding the promontory you could see a harbor and a temple to Athena Souniados (Athena of Sounion) on the peak of the promontory.

In Teumessus, Boeotia, there was a sanctuary of Athena Telchinias (Athena of Telchin), which contained no image. As to her surname, we may hazard the conjecture that a division of the Telchinians who once dwelt in Cyprus came to Boeotia and established a sanctuary of Athena Telchinias.

The Attic deme of Phlya had an altar to Athena Tithrones. H. Petersmann makes a sound linguistic argument connecting this adjective with the verb thrôiskô, which means “to jump,” but as is well attested, may also have the sense of “to impregnate, to fertilize.”

On the acropolis of Pheneus in Arcadia was a temple of Athena surnamed Tritonias. Triton was a river at the source of which Athena was said to have been born (Paus. 8.26.6). The brook Triton near Alalcomenae in Boeotia has the best pretensions to that distinction (Triton).

Most people know of Apollo only as a sun god, but he’s much more. Apollo, sometimes called Phoebus with or without Apollo, is a Greek and Roman god with many, and sometimes conflicting attributes. He is a patron of intellectual pursuits, the arts, and prophesy. He leads the Muses, for which reason he is called Apollo Musagetes. Apollo is sometimes called Apollo Smitheus. It is thought that this refers to a connection between Apollo and mice, which makes sense since Apollo shoots plague arrows to punish disrespectful humans.
There is much to say about Apollo. If he’s unfamiliar, start with the glossary entry on Apollo.

Apollo is thought to inspire the priestess of Delphi to pronounce oracles. Apollo is associated with the laurel, which is used in certain games to crown the victor. He is a god of music, prophecy, and later, the sun.

The Greek god Apollo is the brother of Artemis (huntress and sometimes thought of as the moon goddess), and the son of Zeus and Leda.

Apollo is associated with the prophecies coming from the Delphic oracle and the laurel, since when he pursued Daphne she was turned into a laurel tree to escape from him.

Apollo had few children and many romances. The healing god Asclepius was one of these children. Because of his gifts, Asclepius not only could, but did bring mortals back to life. Zeus was horrified and so stopped him by killing him.

In Euripides’ play Alcestis, Apollo has been forced by Zeus to labor as punishment for his grief-stricken misbehavior when Zeus killed Asclepius.

The Romans did not have a noticeably different version of the name Apollo.

You’ve seen that Poseidon could be a harsh god. He was always ready for a fight, not terribly clever, and untrustworthy. But he also had a kinder, gentler side:

Poseidon granted the twin brothers Castor and Pollux some of his own power — the ability to calm the seas. He also appointed them protectors of sailors, thus giving away a little of his own glory.

When Ino and her son Melicertes threw themselves into the sea, Poseidon took pity on them and changed them into sea deities.

Poseidon also gave his most precious creation — the horse — to those he favored. Many myths attest to this act of kindness.

After the fall of Troy, a Greek soldier, Ajax of Locris, raped a woman named Cassandra in a temple of Athena. Indignant, Athena asked her uncle for help in punishing the rapist. Poseidon sent a violent storm that destroyed much of the Greek fleet.
Poseidon was widely worshiped throughout ancient Greece. Sailors offered sacrifices to Poseidon in hopes of calm seas, and he was also connected with fresh water and fertility. Yet he was greatly feared for his ability to whip up storms and cause earthquakes, as well as his unpredictable nature.

Two main groups of the gigantic creatures known as the Titans of Greek mythology, are distinguished by their generation. The Titans in the first generation are the aunts, uncles, and parents of Zeus et al., the Olympian gods and goddesses. [See Genealogy of the First Gods.] These Titans are the 12 children of Gaia and Uranus:
Oceanus [Okeanos] (father of nymphs)
Coeus [Koios] (father of Leto & Asteria)
Crius [Krios] (father of Pallas, Astraeus, and Perses)
Hyperion (father of sun-god, moon, dawn)
Iapetus [Iapetos] (father of Prometheus, Atlas, and Epimetheus)
Cronus [Kronos] (aka Saturn)
Thea [Theia] (Hyperion’s mate)
Rhea [Rheia] (Cronus and Rhea were the parents of the Olympian gods and goddesses)
Themis (Zeus’ second consort, mother of the Hours, Fates)
Mnemosyne (mated with Zeus to produce the Muses)
Phoebe (Coeus’ mate)
Tethys (Ocean’s mate)

The Titans Cronus (#6 above) and Rhea (#8) are the parents of Zeus and the other Olympian gods and goddesses.
Besides the Olympian gods and goddesses, the Titans produced other offspring, mating with either other Titans or other creatures. These offspring are also called Titans, but they’re the titans of the second generation.

Second Generation Titans of Greek Mythology

The major second generation Titans are:
Asteria
Astraea (Dike)
Astraeus
Atlas
Eos (Dawn)
Eosphorus (or Hesperus)
Epimetheus
Helius
Leto
Menoetius
Pallas
Perses
Prometheus
Selene
As for most aspects of mythology, Carlos Parada has an excellent page on the Titans.
Also Known As: Ouraniônes, Ouranidai
Examples:
Dione, Phorcys, Anytus, and Demeter are sometimes added to the list of 12 Titans: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Cronus, Thea, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys.
Titans are involved in stories of the castration of Ouranos, the creation of man, the fight with the gods, known as the Titanomachy, but often mixed up with the story of the gods’ battle with the giants, and the imprisonment of the Titans in Tartarus.

Demeter is the Greek goddess of grain. Ceres is the Latin name for Demeter. The Eleusinian Mysteries celebrate the rites of Demeter and her daughter Persephone (Ceres and Proserpina).
Demeter was a goddess of fertility, grain, and agriculture. She is pictured as a mature motherly figure. Although she is the goddess who taught mankind about agriculture, she is also the goddess responsible for creating winter. While her daughter Persephone was missing and no one seemed to know what had happened, Demeter grieved. She refused to do her job, so nothing grew. This was winter.

After Persephone was found two compromises were made. (1) Persephone would spend half the year with her husband, Hades, and half the year with her mother, Demeter. (2) As long as Demeter lived with her daughter the crops thrived, but whenever she went to the Underworld, winter came again.

Demeter was a daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Demeter was a sister of the goddesses Hestia and Hera, and the gods Poseidon, Hades, and Zeus.

The attributes of Demeter are a sheaf of grain, a conical headdress, a scepter, a torch, and a sacrificial bowl

Gefion (“giver”) is an old-Scandinavian vegetation and fertility goddess, especially connected with the plough. She was considered the patron of virgins and the bringer of good luck and prosperity. Every girl who dies a virgin will become Gefion’s servant. She is married to King Skjold or Scyld ¹ a son of Odin, and lived in Leire, Denmark, where she had a sanctuary. The Swedish kings are supposed to be her descendants.
It is traditionally claimed that Gefion created the island of Zealand (“Sjaelland” in Danish) by ploughing the soil out of the central Swedish region with the help of her sons (four Swedish oxen), creating the great Swedish lakes in the process. In Copenhagen, Denmark, there is a large fountain showing Gefion in the process of ploughing.
Gefion could be another form of Frigg who is also known under that name.

As the wife of Odin, Frigg is one of the foremost goddesses of Norse mythology. She is the patron of marriage and motherhood, and the goddess of love and fertility. In that aspect she shows many similarities with Freya, of whom she possibly is a different form.

She has a reputation of knowing every person’s destiny, but never unveils it. As the mother of Balder, she tried to prevent his death by extracting oaths from every object in nature, but forgot the mistletoe. And by a fig made from mistletoe Balder died. Her hall in Asgard is Fensalir (“water halls”). Frigg’s messenger is Gna, who rides through the sky on the horse Hofvarpnir. In some myths she was rumored to have had love affairs with Odin’s brothers Ve and Vili.

In Norse mythology, Forseti is the god of justice. He is the son of the god Balder and his mother is Nanna. Forseti rules in the beautiful palace Glitnir, which serves as a court of justice and where all legal disputes are settled. Glitnir has a roof of silver that is supported by pillars of red gold.
Forseti can be compared with the Teutonic god Fosite, who was worshipped on Helgoland.